Just a Little Gift
by only.a.small.fish
Summary: Steve and Bucky are Christmas Shopping and things get very fluffy. Day 1 of 12 Days of Shipmas.


"Buck, no, put that back."

"But just look at it. Isn't it cute?"

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in exasperation but walked over to see what Bucky was holding anyway.

It was a rubber duck, a small one, and painted...Steve sighed again...like him.

"No Buck, put it back. We've got actual shopping to do," he said, touching Bucky's arm lightly. Bucky looked up at him with an expression of protest.

"Aw come on," he pleaded "It's so cute." He held the rubber duck up to Steve's face and squeezed it, stale air that had been trapped inside washing the scent of rubber over Steve's face.

"Blech, stop it!" he exclaimed, pushing the duck away from him and scrunching up his face in disgust. Bucky laughed and squeezed it a few more times, the hiss of air escaping the tiny hole in its beak as it was smushed and regained shape continuously.

"Let's go, we still have to find that coffee maker for Tony," Steve said, turning to leave the shelf. Bucky gave the duck one last squeeze and dropped it back on the shelf. He turned on his heel and marched alongside Steve.

"I still think the garden trowel is a better gift," he commented thoughtfully, giving Steve an affectionate poke on the shoulder and slinging his arm into the crook of his elbow.

Steve snorted. "Yeah, for all that gardening Tony does."

"Isn't a coffee maker more fitting for Thor?" Bucky asked, stretching out his arm, the silver glint of metal fingers protruding from the padded sleeve of his parka.

"I thought about it," Steve said "But I don't think Thor'll be here for Christmas. Besides, I couldn't think of anything else for Tony. He can literally invent everything he could possibly need and get it all, plus more."

"Couldn't he just make a coffee maker for himself then?"

"Yeah, but-"

"You're really bad at gift giving Steve, just accept it."

Steve sighed again; he seemed to be sighing a lot today. He looked down at Bucky and found the expression on his face unreadable. Steve studied it warily for a moment.

"What?"

"Nothing, you're just really cute."

Despite himself, Steve felt his cheeks tingle with an oncoming blush, one that Bucky spotted immediately.

"Ho ho, I see that blush," he teased, poking Steve's cheek as he looked away bashfully. "Isn't the great Captain America supposed to be resilient to everything? Now he can't even take a compliment."

Steve grumbled something about insolent boyfriends and Bucky snorted, clapping his hand over Steve's backside in response. Steve gasped aloud in surprise and whipped his head around to glare at Bucky angrily.

"Buck! How many time have we talked about this?!" he hissed. "Not. In. Public!"

"Oh psh," Bucky scoffed, waving his hand lazily. "We'd only be bothered by the press. No big deal."

"That's precisely why. They'd have a field day if they caught you touching my ass."

"But it's such a nice ass," Bucky pouted. "It's not fair for you to keep it all to yourself."

"Please Buck," Steve said, sounding more desperate than irritated now.

"Hush now," Bucky replied, petting Steve's hair. "I'll stop."

"Thank you," Steve said. They didn't say anything for a while, walking about the store in a contented silence.

Steve ran his hand through a display of Christmas sweaters, feeling the fuzzy texture of the brightly coloured acrylic yarn tickle his skin.

"That would look good on you," Bucky commented, noticing the brief interest his partner had held in the garments.

"Which one?"

"The green one."

"There are five green ones Buck."

Bucky pretended to roll his eyes and wiggled his arm free from where it was intertwined with Steve's. He walked briskly over to the stand and pulled a fluffy, bright green sweater from the rack. It was cheerfully decorated with a large Christmas tree surrounded by knitted boxes and toys. The average Christmas sweater.

"You know I only wear red and blue Buck," Steve teased, crossing his arms over his chest. Bucky held up the sweater and inspected it, his eyes flickering from Steve to the sweater and back again.

"But you need to wear a little green sometimes," Bucky said finally. "Time to 'spruce' up your life," he jested, waggling the sweater at his mildly amused boyfriend. Upon hearing Bucky's pun, it took a great deal of effort on Steve's part not to slap his palm to his face. Honestly, he wondered why he put up with this.

"That was so bad I've lost my appetite for shopping," he said, attempting at humor. Bucky simply looked at him, his face blank and disbelieving.

"You're lucky I love you because that was probably the dumbest comment I've ever heard in my life," he said, hanging the sweater back on the display. Steve felt himself go a little red.

"Sorry, that was supposed to be funny," he said sheepishly. This time, Bucky laughed.

"You're really something Stevie," he said, planting a short kiss to Steve's cheek.

They eventually found the coffee maker, thankfully the store still had a red one. Bucky refused to leave the store without a last squeeze of the rubber duck, much to Steve's chagrin, but they were soon stepping out into to chill of winter, hand in hand.

The tantalizing scent of pastry wafted towards them as the automatic doors slid shut behind their backs. The street they were on was lined with countless shops, decorated fully with wreaths and holly hanging in the windows. With a light dusting of snow drifting down lazily, the street was the perfect, picturesque image of the holidays. Children laughed loudly, chasing each other about in the snow, their faces flushed red with excitement.

It so happened that the pastry they were smelling was being made in a little pink stand. There were children lined up, swinging from their parent's arms or clutching dollar bills in their tiny hands. Eyes shining with anticipation, a little girl gasped as a huge funnel cake was handed to her, dripping with chocolate and cream.

"Ooh Steve..." Bucky gasped, tugging on Steve's arm. "Can we get one of those?" he asked. It had been forever since he'd had any sort of street food.

Steve pondered this for a moment before smiling widely at his partner.

"Definitely."

They approached the line in earnest, standing behind a little boy and his older sister, both with identical heads of flaming red ringlets. The boy was jumping up and down, his hands balled into tiny fists. His sister smacked his arm in annoyance.

"Stop it Tommy, or I'll tell mum," she hissed in a bossy voice tinged with an Irish accent. The little boy, Tommy, stopped bouncing immediately. He fidgeted for a moment or so, but then grabbed his sister's sleeve very suddenly.

"Callie! I've got nuffin' for mum for Christmas!" he cried in a tiny voice, clearly very upset. Callie placed a small finger to his lips.

"Don't worry, we'll get her somethin'. You'll see. We'll go into that store there, you see it?" She pointed to the shop Steve and Bucky had just exited. "Mum said she wanted a soap from there. She told me straight up. We'll go there and buy it for her, won't she be surprised?"

"Yes, yes! A surprise for mummy!" Tommy squealed, starting to bounce up and down again. Steve and Bucky exchanged goofy smiles, products of the adorable scene that had just unfolded in front of them. Tommy and Callie moved forward in the line, stepping up to the cart. Callie stood on her tiptoes and ordered in a squeaky voice. Suddenly, Steve had an idea.

"Buck, I forgot something in the store," he said, stuffing his hand into the pocket of his parka and extracting his wallet. After pulling twenty dollars from it, he hastily shoved it and the bag containing the coffee maker into Bucky's hands.

"Can you hold these for me? I'll be right back," he said. Bucky looked at him helplessly confused.

"But what about the funnel cake?"

"Just order whatever you want, I'll be back in just a second!" Steve called, jogging back to the store.

Bucky stared after him in bewilderment and was only shocked back to reality by the chef asking him what he wanted.

He ordered a simple funnel cake, only with strawberries and whipped cream, because he knew Steve wasn't partial to overly sweet things. Sliding the shopping bag onto his arm, he juggled the large pastry and Steve's wallet in his hands, stepping off to the side to wait for Steve. However, he didn't need to wait very long.

Steve came running over to him, holding something behind his back and barely breaking a sweat. He stopped short in front of his partner, looking down at the slightly shorter of the two with eyes gleaming with excitement.

"What's up with you?" Bucky asked, raising one eyebrow skeptically. Instead of answering, Steve flashed him a devilish grin and procured whatever he had been hiding with a flourish. Bucky's eyes widened slightly as Steve placed the tiny rubber duck onto the glacier of whipped cream between them.

"Steve, I was only joking..." Bucky started to say, but Steve interrupted him with a peck on the nose. Pulling back, he nudged the Captain America duck towards its receiver. Bucky picked it up with his index finger and his thumb, bringing a dollop of cream along with it. As he looked at it, his smile turned to an impish grin. He flashed Steve a smirk and turned the duck over. He brought it to his mouth and licked up the cream in the most provocative way possible.

"Kinky," he purred, grinning. "Is this a promise for later?"

Wondering whether or not he regretted buying the duck, Steve went very red.


End file.
